Small users pay more, bonanza for business

NEW DELHI, MARCH 9: While smaller users across the country will witness fairly steep hikes in their monthly telephone bills, there's virt...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 9: While smaller users across the country will witness fairly steep hikes in their monthly telephone bills, there8217;s virtually a bonanza for corporates and other large users. Beginning April 1, STD rates will be cut by around 22 per cent by 45 per cent over three years, and international call rates by around 30 per cent by 50 per cent over three years.

Rates for leased lines for internet facilities have also been cut dramatically, and operators for such value-added services will be free to set their own tariffs. And while the monthly rental on cell-phones has been hiked dramatically, from Rs 156 to Rs 600, a ceiling of Rs 6 per minute has been fixed for standard hours. All incoming calls on cellular phones are to be free from August 1, with the caller 8212; either from a cellphone or from a land line paying the airtime.

According to the indicative tariff list released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI today, the monthly bill for a rural user making 120 calls will go upby a whopping 40 per cent, from Rs 50 at present to Rs 70. Similarly, for an urban customer making 120 calls, the monthly bill goes up from Rs 190 at present to Rs 250 once the new rates come into existence. Callers who make 2,000 calls and above, by contrast, are hardly affected, and even have a minor reduction in their monthly bills.

STD rates, similarly, will fall dramatically, upto 45 per cent over three years, TRAI chairman S.S. Sodhi told reporters here today at the press conference to announce the new rates.

Immediately, a 3-minute STD call from Delhi to Mumbai, for example, will come down from Rs 114 right now to Rs 88, and further to Rs 72 a year later, and Rs 64 the year after that.

The maximum charges per minute for an international call to the neighbouring SAARC countries will come down from Rs 42 right now to Rs 30 on April 1, and further to Rs 25 next year and Rs 21.6 the year after that. For the US, the rate will come down from Rs 84 per minute to Rs 61.20 from April 1, and further to Rs49.20 next year and Rs 40.80 the year after that.

While hiking monthly cellular rentals sharply from Rs 156 to Rs 600, TRAI has rationalised the airtime charges by fixing a ceiling rate of Rs 6 per minute during standard hours 11 hours and a concessional rate to be fixed by the service provider for the balance 13 hours of the day with effect from April 1. The present structure has three rates of Rs 16, Rs 8 and Rs 4 for peak, standard and off-peak hours.

Story continues below this ad

Internet leased circuits charges have been fixed at Rs 70,000 per annum for speed of 2.4 kbps, Rs 2.5 lakh for 9.6 kbps, Rs 5 lakh for 64 kbps, Rs 10.5 lakh for 256 kbps and Rs 41.80 lakh for 2 mbps. Internet service providers will be free to fix internet tariffs and all other related matter including billing cycle.

Tariffs for all other value added services including electronic mail, voice mail, video conferencing and closed users group domestic 64 kbps data network via INSAT satellite system will be fixed by service providers.

Global mobilepersonal communication by satellite satellite phone service providers have also been given freedom to fix tariffs.

The basic service users in urban and rural areas have been classified into three categories each 8212; low user, general user and commercial user subscribers. The rentals will be raised gradually over a period of three years between 1999-2000 to 2001-2002.

Story continues below this ad

In urban areas, low user subscribers who make less than 500 calls per month will pay a monthly rental of Rs 120 where the telephone exchange has upto 29,000 line, Rs 180 for exchanges having 30,000 to 99,999 lines and Rs 250 for exchange having 1 lakh lines and above.

The general users will pay rentals of Rs 120, 180 and Rs 250 depending upon the exchange8217;s line capacity during 1999-2000 which would be hiked to Rs 160, Rs 220 and Rs 310 by 2001-2002.

The commercial urban users will pay monthly rentals of Rs 160, Rs 220 and Rs 310. The classification of the commercial users will be laid down by TRAI later.

The call charges for basicphones in urban areas has been fixed at Re 1 for first 500 calls per month and Rs 1.20 thereafter. The number of free calls has been reduced from 75 calls per month to 60 calls.

Story continues below this ad

In rural areas, the low user subscribers will pay monthly rentals of Rs 70 to Rs 250 depending upon the exchange8217;s lines capacity, the general users Rs 70 to Rs 310 and commercial users from Rs 120 to Rs 310 between 1999-2000 to 2001-2002.

The paging service tariff has been hiked 20 per cent to Rs 300 per month from Rs 250 for alphanumeric service and to Rs 175 from Rs 150 for numeric service.